Seoul: South Korea's current account surplus almost doubled in March, compared to February, thanks to robust exports of IT products such as smartphones and semiconductors, central bank data showed Monday.

Current account surplus was USD 4.98 billion in March after posting a surplus of USD 2.71 billion in February and USD 2.33 billion in January respectively, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

For the first three months of this year, the surplus reached USD 10.02 billion, almost quadrupling from the same period of last year, reported Xinhua.

The widening surplus was attributable to brisk shipments of major export items. Exports increased 1.3 percent from a year earlier to USD 47.99 billion in March after falling 7.9 percent in the previous month.

Imports reduced 1.5 percent to USD 43.78 billion in March, sending the trade balance to a surplus of USD 4.21 billion last month.